VERONA, NY — We’re only in March, but it’s unlikely David Lemieux’s knockout of Curtis Stevens will be topped for the rest of the year.

The two powerful sluggers did what they do best — go for the kill. Lemieux came out throwing right-hand bombs through Stevens’s guard, while the Brooklynite tried to catch and counter with hard left hooks. Lemieux’s chopping right hand hurt Stevens twice over the final minute and allowed the Canadian to abuse him on the ropes with digging body shots.

Lemieux controlled the second round with the same aggression and higher punch output. As the pace slowed in the third, Lemieux came in with a right hand and beat Stevens to the punch with a short left for the fight-ending knockout.

The high-profile KO puts the Golden Boy promoted in contention to face Canelo Alvarez should the Mexican star emerge victorious against Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in May and not be able to make a Gennady Golovkin super fight in September.

VERONA, NY — Knockout artists David Lemieux and Curtis Stevens both made the middleweight limit comfortably today for Saturday’s Boxing After Dark main event from the Turning Stone Resort Casino.

Since losing the IBF middleweight title to Gennady Golovkin in November 2015, Lemieux has reeled off two straight victories. He knocked off Glen Tapia in four rounds last May, and scored a unanimous decision over Cristian Fabian Rios in October. Lemieux weighed in at 159 pounds.

Curtis Stevens has gone 4-1 since being stopped in eight rounds in 2013. The other loss was a wide decision to Hassan N’Dam in October 2014. Since then, Curtis has scored a second round TKO over Patrick Teixeira, and hard-fought 10-round decision over James De La Rosa last November. Stevens weighed in at 158 pounds.

PREDICTION: If any fight could be dubbed bombs away, it’s this one. Both guys have massive power and can hurt each other. When looking at intangibles, Lemieux is the bigger man and a bit more versatile with his offense. Expect both guys to get hurt and possibly dropped with the more aggressive Lemieux taking a late stoppage.

GAMBOA VS. ALVARADO: Yuriorkis Gamboa will make his first ring appearance since December 2015 tomorrow night. Gamboa tipped the scales at 131 pounds for this lightweight contest. He has only fought twice since losing by TKO to Terence Crawford in June 2014, defeating Joel Montes de Oca (TKO6) and Hylon Williams Jr. (UD10).

Rene Alvarado comes into tomorrow night 2-2 over his last 4 fights. Alvarado bounced back from consecutive losses to Andrew Cancio (KO8) and Manuel Avila (UD10) to win a split decision over Jayson Velez (SD10) last July.

Stevens was active on the inside and easily countered Teixeira with heavy power shots. Teixeira was hurt in the first and spent most of the round holding. In the second, he tried to get the jab working to establish distance. Stevens easily breached Teixeira’s guard and dropped him with a vicious right hook counter over a sloppy Teixeira left hand. Teixeira got to his feet by was too dazed to continue.

Teixiera came into this fight with a glossy 26-0 (22 KOs) record. Golden Boy was using this fight to test the Brazlian’s potential in the division. Don’t be surprised if Golden Boy cuts their losses.

As for Stevens, he has new life and is a good choice for the winner of tonight’s Lemieux-Tapia bout.

“The name of the game is to knock people out and that’s what I did tonight,” said Curtis Stevens. “I feel great to get back into the game after my one and a half year break. I really want Lemieux, but I will take whatever I can get. My head is right, and I’m ready to take on whoever.”

The funniest weigh-in moment came courtesy of Shane Mosley protege Rocco Santomauro against Diego De La Hoya. Santomauro got on the scale eating Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, showing his confidence in making weight. He did so at a weight of 121. De La Hoya was 122.

Ismael AbduSalaam/BeatsBoxingMayhem

Jason Quigley weighed 160 while James De La Rosa came in at 162.

The HBO card begins Saturday at 9 p.m. ET. Preliminary fights will be streamed live on BeatsBoxingMayhem starting at 7 p.m ET.

BeatsBoxingMayhem is providing a live stream of today’s weigh-in for Canelo vs. Amir Khan. The stream begins coverage at 5:30 p.m. ET and includes all undercard fights. Tomorrow starting at 7 p.m. ET, we will be providing a stream for all the preliminary, non pay-per-view bouts on the card.

Middleweight contender Curtis Stevens is promising renewed mental focus under new trainer John David Jackson as they prepare to face undefeated Brazilian slugger Patrick Teixeira May 7 on the Canelo-Khan undercard.

Stevens, who has not fought since losing a wide decision to Hassan N’Dam in October 2014, blames that listless performance on a contentious custody battle over his son.

“My son’s mother she ran off with my son and I couldn’t find her for about a year and a half, but that’s all out the window now,” says Stevens. “I have him back now, so I’m ready to go in there and put in the work.”

Said work has been under the guidance of John David Jackson, head trainer for Sergey Kovalev. Previously trained by his uncle, Stevens made the switch in an effort to move away from his “one-punch knockout” reputation. Although his slugging style has produced thrilling victories over the likes of Saul Roman and Tureano Johnson, it proved too one-dimensional to succeed against elite opponents like WBA titlist Gennady Golovkin.

“I’m not going to say he complements my style, but you know, he’s been a fighter,” says Stevens, who’s relocated to Florida for closer promixity to Jackson’s gym. “So a fighter that fought back in the day, he’s turned coach now, he see things that other people can’t see. So he’s making me more relaxed instead of making me more so much just going in there and kill, you know.”

Stevens’ opponent, 26 year old Patrick Teixeira, is a high workrate fighter that’s knocked out his last three opponents. With Teixeira being under the Golden Boy banner, the veteran Stevens is keenly aware he’s been selected as a litmus test for Teixeira’s potential. However, Stevens believes his opponent is banking on him being the low activity fighter of year’s past.

“Staying active [is my key]. Staying active because I remember before I used to just train when I had a fight coming up,” Stevens explained. “But as you get older, you feel like you have to stay active. You have to stay active. So I’ve been in the gym all the time. I’ve been running. I’ve been sparring. I was with Canelo not too long ago getting ready for Cotto so I was down there with him for two months.

I’m in the gym right now as we speak. Chemistry’s there. Just putting our puzzle pieces all together so the puzzle can be complete for May 7th.”